Category: Less Than Three Press

Less Than Three Press

A MelanieM Review: Kelpie Blue (Out of Underhill #1) by Mell Eight

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Mama always said, don’t go near the lake. Rin already knew the forest was filled with dark things, but aside from Mama no one had warned him about the lake. One day, Rin wanders off to the lake, where a beautiful blue horse asks him to go for a swim, and Rin learns too late it may not be a swim he survives.

I have to admit it took me a little while to connect with a character who referred to his lover as his “snack” and thought about eating him or his bone marrow.  I was dubious until about halfway through that this would have a HEA and that the old adage about creatures staying true to their nature might prove out here.  You never know….

But Kelpie Blue (Out of Underhill #1) by Mell Eight kept taking one interesting turn after another, and eventually I even enjoyed the peculiar mindset of a Kelpie (thoughts of eating humans included).

I loved the way  Mell Eight weaves the Fae and human worlds together here, connecting them through a matter of fact woman running a stables at the edge of a special forest and lake, and her son Rin.  That lake and forest are just any plain forests but the entranceway and habitat of the fae as Rin soon finds out.

Side by side with the fae story element is an ongoing one that shows Mama, who raises and races horses, having major troubles with another horse breeder.  I thought this was a terrific idea.  Just when the whole Rin/Blue aspect of the storyline gets a little overwhelming with their  diary dialog  (they write back and forth in Rin’s diary) and relationship then we cut away to Mama’s gritty real life issues and the fight to save the farm and their livelihood.

Two thirds into the story, the drama has increased, the suspense and mystery has been raised, and I was just as interested in Mama’s story as I was in Rin’s.  Plus there is this whole other guy called Jim who runs Overhill Stables….

Anyhow, by the time the book ends (it ends way too soon), you still have some questions.  Ok, a lot of questions.  Blue is still a young Kelpie and Rin is, well, a young Rin.  Both have a lot of growing to do.  I expect Fae politics to start intruding one more into their lives so I can’t wait for the next book to appear.

By the way?  Kudos to Mell Eight for keeping Blue as completely non-human and Kelpie as possible.  It takes time to relate to him precisely because the author did her job so well.  I can’t wait to see what happens as he grows, trepidations notwithstanding.  Snack indeed.

Cover art: Michelle Seaver.  Beautiful cover and works so well for the story.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Published March 21st 2018 by Less Than Three Press
Original TitleKelpie Blue
ISBN139781684311989
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesOut of Underhill #1

A MelanieM Review: The Dragon’s Legacy by Robin White

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Valgaforis wants to be left in peace. And if he must be bothered, he would prefer goblins to humans. But these humans come searching for something that sounds like it just might help him figure out what happened to the rest of his kind. He can tolerate some bothersome humans for a little while to answer that burning question.

Things just seem to keep going wrong for Alessio. While on the hunt for the regalia of his bloodline, which will finally secure him the throne, he stumbles across Erik, who’s somehow already discovered the dragon cave Alessio seeks. Erik, a native of the Northland, offers to help, and Alessio gratefully accepts, despite the unexpected complications added to his already difficult journey.

Along the way they encounter spirits, hobs, a river bride, and even trolls. In fact, the only thing they don’t seem to encounter is the dragon Alessio expected to find when they finally reach their destination…

The storyline and the characters of The Dragon’s Legacy by Robin White show promise.  I just can’t resist a dragon or dragon shifter story.  And this sounded like a wonderful fantasy tale.   I think it could be as all the elements are here just waiting to be enlarged into the fantasy saga it hopes to be.

With any story, especially a fantasy one, you need a solid foundation of world building to rest it on and this one lacks that.  You get bits and pieces of the culture and the reason why Alessio and group is off on his mission but you have gaping holes in his history and in Valgaforis’ as well.  Those are never answered either by the end of the story to the reader’s dissatisfaction.  You need to pull all the threads together, answer at least the important questions in the readers minds to make the story a cohesive whole in order for any book to be an enjoyable reading experience.

I appreciated little touches here and there.  The fact that the dragon joined in on the quest with no one any the wiser was a cute aspect to the story, over too soon for my tastes.   And I liked the whole dragon’s sword bit but that should have been explored more as it was a huge part of the storyline.

But the biggest loss here is that of character development.  Each character lacked depth and that “realiness” that comes with a layered personality and time given over to making us believe in them as a person/beings.  Same goes for the relationships here.  All have that shallowness about them that feels one dimensional.  It lets you appreciate some of the nicer points of the story but removes you from any emotional contact or connection to anyone within the story.

This is the first story I’ve read by Robin White and I would certainly read others, based on the promise this one displays.

Cover art: Aisha Akuju:  The cover art is stunning with the dragon’s hoard.  Love it.

Sales Links: Less Than Three Press

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: May 30th 2018 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684312610
Edition LanguageEnglish
Other Editions
None found

A MelanieM Review: Dragon Magic by Megan Derr

Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5

Four strangers. A shared moment long forgotten. A bond forged in desperation.

On the first day of the Festival of Counting, the beginning of the royal census that takes place every ten years, the royal city is filled to overflowing. Everyone is happy, excited, and proud to be counted amongst those who live in the glorious kingdom of Orhanis.

Then a demon strikes, killing thousands in mere seconds and leveling the city. As the royal castle burns, only four men remain to drive the demon away—and in their desperation, accidentally bind themselves together in a legendary Oath, unable to part ways until they find and kill the demon once and for all.

Mahzan, the King’s Jester, an orphan who clawed his way to the top and hides a fearsome magic… Sule, the notorious North Captain, who sacrificed everything to live as a strong, capable, highly respected man… Cemal, a priest who traveled the continent bent on revenge and now lives lost… and Binhadi, the mercurial shadow mage with a dark history and bloody ties to the throne…

Four men used to standing apart, standing alone, who must learn to stand together if they hope to save themselves and all of Orhanis.

When it comes to fantasy, Megan Derr is  one of my go to authors.  I love her marvelous ability to transport me out of the mundane and into realms where dragons soar,  wounded mage’s seek reparation and love, and unique bands of warriors go forth on sagas that have continued to live on in my heart and mind long past those words…The End in book after book.

In Dragon Magic Megan Derr brings together another unusual band of mages.  This time, they will form not only a working relationship but a romantic one between the four of them.  Not something of a norm in her stories. Or in the stories I normally read because I haven’t found many authors that make a  polyamorous relationship work within a storyline to my tastes.  Here, among four strong mages, who fight the bonds between them from the beginning, watching the emotional ties form, along with the lust and love feels natural.  It helps that they can “feel” each others thoughts and emotions, so the instinctual walls  others erect start breaking down or are broken between the four of them from the start, laying their “secrets” out before the others.

Derr switches the story back and forth between the emotional vulnerability and revelations that is happening between the four as they become a true “family” and the perilous state they find themselves in while searching out the demons and those responsible for the destruction of the Capitol.  I expected to “like” one of the characters more than the rest, maybe Mahzan or Sule, but each mages here is a little broken each in their own way.  Each strong as well.  Turned out I loved them equally.  Semal and Binahdi  no less than Mahzan and Sule.  What great characters all.

The only thing that kept this from a 5 stars story was the odd little out of timeline break at the end.  I understand why the author did it but it still felt jarring.  And honestly asked more questions than it answered.  I didn’t need it.  And in my opinion the story didn’t either.  But that’s just me.

Either way, if you are a lover of high fantasy, Megan Derr or both,  Dragon Magic is a book you won’t want to miss.  And yes, once again she has created some wonderful demons for our mages to fight against.  Can’t miss out on those either!  Put this and this wonderful band of mages on your TBR list today!  I highly recommend it!

Cover art:Phillip Lloyd Simpson.  It’s colorful.  Don’t know that it’s my favorite of Megan Derr’s covers.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook
Expected publication: March 28th 2018 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684312016
Edition LanguageEnglish

A MelanieM Review: Flamecaller by Caitlin Ricci

Rating: 2 stars out of 5

When the emperor has his father killed, it’s the breaking point for Haruo, who sets out from the island of dragon shifters where he lives in search of revenge. The tournament being held to marry off the emperor’s son seems a perfect opportunity—what better way to get close to the father than through the son, after all.

Three things drew me to this story.  That incredible cover, the author, and that synopsis.  I have read Caitlin Ricci’s stories before and enjoyed them. That fact, combined with the intriguing plot,  had me eagerly starting into chapter one.

Sigh.

What I found was more along the lines of an author’s outline for a novella than an actual story that was complete with fleshed out characters, relationships that had some depth to them, back histories that went beyond the shallow, and a foundation that made some sense.

This surprised me considering the author, which is why Flamecaller seems more like an outline of a story than an actual one.   The potential here is marvelous, especially with regard to the emperor’s son.  But do we get any of the necessary background on him to make sense of his actions or subsequent feelings? No.  Does the author give the readers any understanding of how certain important plot elements as I will call them (no spoilers) run genetically through family lines?  No.  Nothing.  She just throws facts out there and leaves them unsupported and whole sections of her story moorless.   That goes for the whole island is crying thing as well and Haruo’s family.  See statement above.

I won’t even get started on that ending which is preposterous no matter how fairy tale-ish this story became.

No, my hope is that sometime in the future, this gets pulled back, and properly rewritten into the novel it’s crying out to be.  Unless you are a hardcore Caitlin Ricci fan, I’d wait and see if that happens to read this story imo.

Cover Art :Michelle Seaver.  This cover is absolutely gorgeous as well as pertinent to the story.  It’s one of the things that drew me to read the blurb.  Love it.

Sales Links:  Less Than Three Press | Amazon

Book Details:

ebook, 45 pages
Published March 14th 2018 by Less Than Three Press
ISBN139781684311965
Edition Language English